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Hakkar
The blood loa Hakkar has many titles, but none so infamous as the Soulflayer. He was once the patron loa of the Gurubashi Empire, bringing them great and terrible power, but eventually the Zandalari discovered the truth of Hakkar's powers. They, along with Gurubashi allies, destroyed Hakkar's corporeal avatar and forced his Atal'ai priests into exile in the Swamp of Sorrows. Since that day, he has waited for the opportunity to reenter the physical world and reclaim his place as the blood god of Azeroth. History Nothing is known of the means or moment of Hakkar's creation. His existence predates all known Titan records. The first known incident involving Hakkar took place millennia ago, at the height of the Zandalari Empire. A Zandalari summoner attempted to summon the blood loa into the physical world in a disastrous ritual that unleashed a plague of corrupted blood across the Empire. Since that day, the Zandalari have feared Hakkar and shunned his followers. Gurubashi Empire By the year 2000 P.C., the Gurubashi Empire was well established in Stranglethorn Vale, but their people were ravaged by famine and disease. Many trolls began to cry out to the loa for aid. The Gurubashi, in their desperation, made a fateful decision in choosing the loa they would petition. Hakkar heard the pleas of the Gurubashi, and soon the supplicants began to hear the vile whispers of the Soulflayer emanating from the Shadowlands. He would grant them not only survival but conquest. He would give them power over all life they encountered to subjugate and rule. In return, he demanded a high price: souls, sacrificed daily. However, this seemed all too small a price to pay for the starving Gurubashi. These trolls heard Hakkar's message and began to spread his teachings throughout the Empire. They would become the Atal'ai, the prophets. For centuries the Atal'ai ruled with a bloody-handed fist. The Empire slowly spread across the lower reaches of the continent, even beginning to reach into lower Brightwood and the Black Morass. All the while, Hakkar feasted. In times of prosperity, the Atal'ai would offer the souls of those they conquered in battle. In less prosperous times, however, the Atal'ai would offer the souls of their own people, chosen from the masses. Hakkar cared little from where the souls came, merely that they were offered for his consumption, and his hunger grew daily. Eventually, Zandalari spies discovered the source of the Gurubashi's terrible power and sent agitators into the Empire. These agitators allied themselves with Gurubashi tribal leaders who had opposed the Atal'ai in years past, and together the Zandalari and the Gurubashi began a revolt that toppled the Atal'ai from power and destroyed Hakkar's corporeal form. The Atal'ai survivors fled from Stranglethorn into the depths of the Black Morass, taking their knowledge of Hakkar with them. There they slowly began to construct a new temple to their dark master, hidden from the eyes of the Empire, from which they could begin their rituals anew and, in time, return Hakkar to the world. Speculation Hakkar is a being beyond the mortal plane, and as such the true extent of his power and influence is not entirely known. While he has been made most explicitly manifest among troll civilizations, there are many who find disturbing similarities between Hakkar and beings present in other cultures. Heol The ancient religion of the Agusti people of the Black Morass is believed by many scholars to be based around a corruption of Hakkar worship. The deity of this religion, known as Heol or the Blood Shade, is commonly depicted as a winged red lizard or dragon. The ritual sacrifices performed by Heol's priesthood, intended to grant a hierophant (in Old Augustan, heorófænt) control over powerful blood magic, also bore striking resemblance to the sort of blood rituals practiced by the Atal'ai. The presence of the Hierophancy of Heol was first recorded in the Black Morass around the year 1350 P.C., but the religion was believed extinguished by 852 P.C. after the Arathorian conquest of the Agusti; however, there are rumors that the blood religion is still practiced in secret in Augustholm. Category:Loa Category:Religion Category:Troll